ANIMALS: Brainy Dog Is Surprisingly Good at Math November 161:23

Maisie the dog possesses the unusual ability to count and complete basic math questions. She may actually give a few humans a run for their money when it comes to standard addition and subtraction! Credit: Facebook/Crazy Maisie via Storyful

AUSTRALIA is continuing to slide down international maths and science rankings.

The latest global report shows our Year 4 students have plummeted 10 spots to 28th out of 49 countries for mathematics skills.

Results of the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study reveal Kazakhstan and Portugal have overtaken Australia.

Despite an injection of taxpayer funds to schools, the results show the performance of Australian Year 4 and Year 8 students in maths and science flatlined while countries such as England, the US, Singapore, Hungary and the Czech Republic all improved.

Australian Year 8s fell five places in both maths and ­science since 2011.

But Queensland emerged as one of the few positives, with the state making solid gains, particularly among Year 4 students, since 2007.